MK creates social media fracas claiming Israelis came from Egypt

MK Stav Shaffir (Zionist Union) tweeted a response to Minister of Education Naftali Bennett’s plan to celebrate Jerusalem in the coming educational year, in which she claimed the Jewish Home leader didn’t know the history of the Bible.

“‘From Jerusalem our history began’ So said Bennett this morning. Excuse me for the pettiness, but it is worth the Minister of Education knowing that according to the Torah, we came here from Egypt.”

Shaffir's tweet Screenshot

The tweet garnered an incredible amount of negative feedback online as followers of both Shaffir and Bennett posted the tweet on social media and took the Zionist Union MK to task for not knowing her own Bible, with almost no one excusing her pettiness.

Shaffir was referring to Bennett’s comments from earlier in the day when he said “From Jerusalem our history began, and from it we draw our strength especially in these trying times.”

Following a barrage of complaints and derisive comments, Shaffir removed the post and changed it to one that was somewhat more accurate:

“Bennett has decided to re-write the Bible to fit his own political needs. For his information: The Jewish people began at Mt. Sinai and not in Jerusalem.”

Shaffir's second tweet Screenshot

But social media users were not so quick to forgive her initial tweet. Some of the responses Shaffir received included comments such as “It’s a good thing you erased your embarrassing tweet about Egypt, but you should open a Bible, or would you rather we return Israel to the Jebusites?”

Other comments included: “This is who we have representing the nation? God help us.” One commenter even went so far as to wish Bennett luck on educating Shaffir next year to teach her about the importance of Jerusalem. “Next year in Cairo rebuilt! Regardless of who is correct, Bennett you have your work cut out for you.”